Eight-year-old Crystal Ojeda, left, chats with Kevin Concannon, USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, during an appearance at Coronado Hills Elementary School in the north Denver suburb of Thornton, Colo., on Tuesday, April 6, 2010. U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Concannon had lunch with the second-grade students before holding a roundtable discussion about issues surrounding childhood hunger, nutrition, physical activity and obesity. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The federal official in charge of food assistance programs plans to visit Rhode Island to learn how the state is fighting hunger and improving the health of families and children.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says Kevin Concannon will visit Central Falls and Providence on Tuesday.

Concannon is the undersecretary for the USDA’s Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services.

He plans to see how the school meal program and the supplemental nutrition program for Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, are operating.

Providence participates in the Community Eligibility Provision, a federal option allowing schools with high poverty rates to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students. Concannon plans to go to the Governor Christopher DelSesto Middle School in Providence.